The Lagos lawyer who died due to alleged negligence by Evercare Hospital, Lekki, Lagos and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) will be buried on Friday, September 15.

The 40-year-old lawyer, Mrs. Ijeoma Chizoma, and her niece were wounded when their car was hit by a somersaulting vehicle around ELF axis in Lekki, Lagos. The six-year-old son of the deceased lawyer narrowly escaped death with head injuries.

According to family sources, the deceased lawyer would be laid to rest on September 15 while Service of Songs holds tomorrow at RCCG, The Place of Enlargement, Lekki, Lagos.

Mrs. Chinwe Chiazor, the elder sister of the deceased, told CITY LAWYER that first responders used a crane to remove her and other occupants from the accidented car. She was rushed to Evercare Hospital in Lekki alongside her niece.

Chiazor said that though the hospital stabilized Chizoma, who is also a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Lagos Branch, and did medical investigation which indicated that she needed urgent surgery, it took hours deliberating on payment and refused to perform the surgery without receiving a N10 million fee for both patients.

“The accident happened around 8 pm,” she said. “I would also have been in that car. That I’m alive today is God’s grace. Ijeoma was unconscious and was bleeding internally.

“She was stabilized at Evercare Hospital. They sent for CTI scan and the result came out. They then told us that she needed to be moved into ICU for surgery. I deposited N300,000. They however insisted that we must pay N5 million each for Ijeoma and my niece, and that unless they receive the money, they would not commence the surgery.

“I noticed that my sister’s head was beginning to swell and they told me it was because of internal bleeding, that blood was being sucked into her head.

“I was crying; I was begging them to start the surgery. They asked, ‘What of the N2 million you said you and your husband will transfer?’ I told them that I can transfer N1 million to them immediately while my husband will transfer another N1 million first thing in the morning as he does not operate the banking App. This was around 12 midnight.

“Ijeoma’s company doctor, Dr. Nwogu came around 3 am and assured them that the company would take full responsibility and pay the bill immediately they resume work in the morning. They refused to do the surgery notwithstanding the guarantee given by their professional colleague and the company.

“As promised, the company transferred N10 million to Evercare in the morning. They now jerked the figure up to N30 million! They insisted on the N30 million, or they would do a referral. I do not know whether it was because they felt the company could pay more. They referred us to LASUTH.”

According to Mrs. Chiazor, her sister and niece were in a very bad shape by this time. “Our nightmare did not end with the referral as Ijeoma was not attended to for four hours at LASUTH. They told us that there were no doctors on duty. They wanted to use a fibrator to resuscitate her but had to rely on CPR instead as they said they did not have the equipment.

“My sister was in the ambulance for over four hours without any medical attention. It was only the nurse from the ambulance company that was attending to her until she died. What will I tell her six-year-old son? She fought; she wanted to live for her son!”

Both LASUTH and Evercare Hospital are yet to respond to the claims at press time.

To join our CITY LAWYER ROUNDTABLE on WhatsApp, click here 

To join our Telegram platform, click here 

COPYRIGHT 2022 CITY LAWYER. Please send emails to citylawyermag@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/City-Lawyer-Magazine-434937936684320 and on TWITTER at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag. To ADVERTISE in CITY LAWYER, please email citylawyermag@gmail.com or call 08138380083.

All materials available on this Website are protected by copyright, trade mark and other proprietary and intellectual property laws. You may not use any of our intellectual property rights without our express written consent or attribution to www.citylawyermag.com. However, you are permitted to print or save to your individual PC, tablet or storage extracts from this Website for your own personal non-commercial use.